Casa Monsenhor Airosa
by João Nuno Macedo

Casa Monsenhor Airosa is one of a set of three traditional houses in Braga, with two stories and two fronts, refurbished by João Nuno Macedo.

The main façade leans toward the street of Monsenhor Airosa, the back façade allows the car access.

Originally the house was organised into two levels, interconnected by a centrally-located staircase, structurally defining the house’s programme.

The project was approached by considering the rehabilitation, preservation and reorganisation of the space according to the original base typology.

For the authors, with the original typology as the starting point, it was essential to return that originality back to the house that, through several transformations and adaptations, became unclear.

The main façade was restored whilst the back façade was simplified by eliminating the volumes added along the timeframe, allowing this façade to affirm itself as a simple, smooth lined, neutral color façade.

The clear reading of the back façade negotiates by opposition with the main traditional façade.

Between the plaster grey and the white metalwork and frames.

In its interior, the central staircase emerges as a catalysing element, assuming a generous dimension as a space generating element.

Through the skylight on its center, it marks the house atmosphere with the light coming from the exterior and brought to the center of the house.

The skylight is one of the most present architectural elements in traditional houses in the North of Portugal

For the authors, the house has been made for living, for contemplating the invading light entering the spaces, delimited but not closed, of slow meals, from its cooking to the meal, of conviviality. It’s a silently defined house, through the composition and traditional principles applied.

Authors João Nuno Macedo, Ricardo Silva, Marta Machado
Surface 197 sqm
Location Braga, Portugal
Year 2019-20
Photography José Campos
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